Defense team to claim ‘religious abuse’ prompted Abe’s slaying
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The defense team of Tetsuya Yamagami, who is accused of murdering former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, is expected to contend that the crime stemmed from “religious abuse” in his family and was not an act of political terrorism, sources said.
The criminal trial for Yamagami, 45, is scheduled to begin at Nara District Court in October.
Yamagami’s lawyers will likely assert that the motive was resentment over the financial hardship caused by his mother’s donations to the Unification Church, now formally called the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification.
On the other side, prosecutors will argue that the focus should be on the malicious nature of the crime, saying that delving into the influence of the religious group is inappropriate.
The central debate in the trial is likely to be how the court interprets the relationship between Yamagami’s upbringing and the crime.
According to sources, Yamagami’s mother joined the Unification Church when he was in elementary school.
She donated around 100 million yen ($674,916) by using money from her husband’s life insurance and by selling their home.
Even after she filed for personal bankruptcy, she continued following her faith. As a result, Yamagami had to give up on his hopes of entering a university.
Although half the money his mother contributed to the Unification Church was returned at the request of his relatives, Yamagami reportedly told police that, “Our life was ruined by the donation. I have held a resentment against the religious group and targeted Abe, who had close ties with the group.”
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